Photo from Ukrinform

A fourth-year student, 18-year-old Vladislav Rosliakov, ran through Kerch Polythechnical College, firing at fellow pupils before killing himself, Russian investigators say. His body with a gunshot wound was found in one of the college’s classrooms.

Investigators said that all victims have died of gunshot wounds. They had earlier put out a statement saying an improvised explosive device went off in the college, but they later cited CCTV footage showing that the man had opened fire on people and then killed himself. The incident will now be treated as a mass murder and not as a terrorist attack.

The tragedy happened around noon, during classes. Schools and pre-schools in the city were evacuated.

Police, the Russian National Guard, medical workers and firefighters are working on site. Locals say that Kerch does not have enough ambulances to transport everyone.

“All roads are blocked. A lot of people are standing outside, crying. One mother could not find her daughter. One girl had her friend killed in front of her, she managed to run away. No one is let inside, you can see from afar that there are a lot of cars, police, ambulances and special police force squads,” a witness told UATV.

President Vladimir Putin said the attack was a “tragic event” and expressed condolences to the victims’ relatives. He promised that the government will do everything necessary to help those wounded.

Details are still emerging, and the precise motives of the shooter currently remain unclear. There are suggestions that the student developed a hostile attitude to the college.

Russia’s RBC TV interviewed a friend who said Rosliakov “hated the technical school very much” and had vowed “revenge” on his teachers.

He had been in possession of a permit for hunting weapons since October, according to Crimea’s ombudsman for the rights of the child, Irina Klyueva.

Classmates also say that he was very self-contained, hardly communicated with anyone, and had long ago stopped using social networks.

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